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Non-productive Team Members

November 21, 2008 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: HR Management, People Issues

Non-productive Team Members
By Barry Otterholt

Judgments about individual performance are more frequent and less forgiving in projects than in business-as-usual operations. In project settings the expectations are high, the schedule is ambitious, the budget is tight, and other people’s ability to perform is tied more directly to your own performance. One person falling behind can have a cascading effect on their team. Likewise, a team falling behind can have a cascading effect on other teams, easily resulting in schedule delays and cost overruns to the project and missed opportunities to the business.

Non-productive team members should be helped as soon as the pattern of non-productivity is revealed. The remedy starts with the team itself.

An effective team wants its members to succeed, and takes takes the initiative to find out why a team mate is struggling. The very fact that a team mate doesn’t have authority over the non-productive member can be what opens the door to needed conversation. A team mate is likely to have the best context for a situation, and can bring fresh perspective. A team member who doesn’t take the initiative because it’s not their job is not performing as a team member. Taking responsibility for each others performance is at the heart of what differentiates a team from a work group.

After reasonable attempts have been made to help a non-productive teammate, and before the teammate’s performance hurts the morale or work product of the team, the project manager should become involved.

The project manager should engage the non-performing team member with a collaborative tone, and presume the problem can be worked out. Open discussion of the barriers to needed performance will reveal whether the solution is within or outside of the team member’s control. The project manager should probe for issues including their understanding of the task at hand, dependencies on other tasks, prioritization of work, management of time, accountability, or interpersonal conflict. The discussion may reveal broader issues within the team that should be corrected. Conversely it may lead to a recognition that the team member is not likely to deliver the needed performance, in which case the project manager must proceed with corrective action. And it doesn’t have to be contentious.

A non-performer may have been assigned to the project, on the advice of a boss or other person of influence, just to find themselves in over their head. If this is the case, and the desire is still there, some extra coaching by a team lead or a specialist may be a good investment and result in an appreciative and loyal team member. Alternatively, there might be a less critical position that would allow the person to acquire the skills without putting the project at risk.

If after reasonable attempts have been made to discern the problem and no viable solution has been found, it may be time to consider a transfer back out of the project and into their prior position or another position in the business-as-usual environment.

Dealing with non-productive team members can be an awkward process for even the experienced project manager. Here are some tips to make it easier.

  • Be candid about where responsibility lies. If the root cause is outside of the person’s control, admit it and seek to fix it. If it lies within the person’s control, be clear about it and expect it to be fixed.
  • Be empathetic, but not apologetic. Show sincere regard for the person’s performance and an honest desire to guide them to needed performance. But the performance of the team usually cannot be slowed while one person gains needed skills. And the project manager cannot make a personal project out of mentoring one person. Be comfortable explaining the boundaries of reasonableness, beyond which a different course of action must be taken.
  • Be resourceful. Unforeseen circumstances are typical of projects. And people are the vital ingredient in projects, particularly when trying to solve problems. Encourage the non-productive person to think about ways to solve the problem, while you are doing the same. They are in as good a position to know what would work as you.
  • See another opinion. If you’re not able to bring the team member to the needed level of performance, consider the brief use of a third party. Human resources groups and external consultancies can be quite effective in helping people quickly see a path to performance.
  • Know when to cut bait. Not all problems can be solved within the tolerances of the project. If you’ve exhausted all reasonable avenues, cut bait. Decisive action on an unrecoverable team member will benefit the team member, whether he or she understands it or not. And it will very likely be encouraging to the remaining team members who are wanting to hit the higher level of performance needed by the project.

I’ve often thought that a psychology degree would have been nice to have in my past. So much of project management is about persuading people to perform at a level they’re unaccustomed to, and to have them understand that it is indeed about working smarter, not necessarily harder.

Barry Otterholt, CMC, PMP

Barry Otterholt has been a project management specialist and coach for the past 30 years. He is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and a Project Management Professional (PMP). He works with both public and private sector companies in the USA, Europe and Scandinavia. Mr. Otterholt was a Director with Microsoft, a senior consultant with Deloitte Consulting, and a COO with a nationwide consumer electronics enterprise. In 1988 he founded Public Knowledge, LLC to provide independent management and operational support to the public sector. More recently, he founded Stouffer & Company, LLC to provide as-needed project management services to fill an obvious skills gap in both private and public sectors.

Mr. Otterholt is an adjunct professor teaching project management at Northwest University. His essays on project management have been published in PMI newsletters. His runs a blog, Project Management Essays, where he muses about various project management topics.

Mr. Otterholt is a member of the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) and the Project Management Institute (PMI). He has a BA in Accounting and Computer Science and an MBA in Business Administration. He lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

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